1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and an image processing system each of which inputs and outputs various image data through a storage medium.
2. Related Background Art
In connection with digitization of a copying machine in recent years, a multifunctional machine having plural functions has been put to practical use. In this machine, facsimile transmission and reception are performed by using a scanner and a printer of the copying machine, and PDL (page description language) data from a computer or the like is expanded (or decompressed) and printed out. Such the multifunctional machine is structured to be able to operate not only for a single function such as a copy function, a facsimile function, a PDL printing function or the like, but also for plural functions. For example, this machine can operate when a PDL expanded image is facsimile transmitted. Further, it is structured that, if the multifunctional machine is connected to various apparatuses such as the computer and the like through a LAN (local area network), such the computer and the like can use the functions of this machine.
Further, in such the multifunctional machine, by sharing a control program of a printer part with the copy function, the PDL printing function, a facsimile printing function and the like, and by sharing a control program of a reader part with the copy function, a facsimile reading function, a scanning function and the like, a capacity of the control programs for realizing the respective functions can be reduced, it is possible to economically and simply realize a desired function.
Further, such the multifunctional machine contains a large-capacity hard disk for storing the image data. Thus, by inputting a read image transferred from a scanner, the PDL expanded image, a facsimile-received document and the like into the hard disk, by repeatedly outputting the images and documents stored in the hard disk to a printer and the like, and by combining the images of plural pages stored in the hard disk with others and outputting the combined image, it is possible to perform effective image processing.
However, in such the conventional multifunctional machine containing the large-capacity hard disk, in general, it is structured to always or surely perform the image inputting and outputting through the hard disk. Therefore, there is a problem that, if the hard disk can not be used for some reasons, the image processing operation can not be performed.